The invention relates to a hinge comprising a hinge arm adjustably held on a mounting plate, a joint adjustment screw or the like and an adjustment device acting in the direction of the depth of a piece of furniture on which the hinge is mounted, the hinge arm being lockable on the mounting plate by means of a resilient snap-in mechanism and held on the mounting plate directly or by means of an intermediate member indirectly at two positions spaced along the length of the hinge arm.
In conventional hinges, the hinge arm is fastened to the mounting plate by means of a clamping screw generally projecting through an oblong hole to permit adjustment of the hinge arm in the direction of the depth of the piece of furniture.
Lately, snap-in connections for fastening the hinge arm to the mounting plate have become known. DE-A-30 26 796 and DE-A-30 39 328, for example, each show a hinge with a hinge arm and a fastening plate, wherein such two parts, which are to be interlocked, snap into each other by inserting the hinge arm into a guide of the fastening plate and by displacing the hinge arm in a longitudinal direction. A similar way of anchoring a hinge arm to a mounting plate is shown in DE-A-24 60 127. DE-A-32 41 284 shows a hinge in which the hinge arm is insertable into lateral guides of a mounting plate and clampable to the mounting plate by means of an eccentric.
The afore-described ways of anchoring a hinge arm to a mounting plate have the advantage that the hinge arm can be quickly fastened to the mounting plate during assembling operations and, further, that no tools are required for mounting. Such advantage is not unimportant because when the hinge arms are mounted, a door to which the hinge arm is fastened must be held. If, for example, the door is held with one hand and the hinge arm to be mounted is held with the other hand, a second person is often required to fasten the clamping screw with a screw driver, if the hinge arm is locked by means of a clamping screw.
It is a disadvantage of hinges in which the hinge arm or the intermediate member is insertable into the mounting plate from the front that they easily cant.
This occurs in particular in the case of high doors which carry many hinges. In most cases, the hinge arm has to be displaced almost over the entire length of the mounting plate.